By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press
On Tuesday, Copperas Cove ISD celebrated the opening of its new baseball and softball fields with the opening pitches of the season.
Back in August 2025, the conversion of the fields was approved by the CCISD board of trustees and was paid for via fund balance.
The project included new field foundations, curbing, fencing, drainage system, as well as the synthetic surfacing and pitching areas, backstops, bases, and more. The bid was for just a little over $2.1 million.
“We’ve got baseball and softball fields that major league quality folks put that down and so we’re in great shape there,” said Superintendent Brent Hawkins when giving an athletics faculties presentation during the board’s Feb. 3 workshop.
That presentation also included the conditions of other athletics facilities, to include maintenance and replacement cycles.
Baseball and softball fields require weekly sweeping, deep cleaning twice a year, and infield replacement every five years. The turf at Bulldawg Stadium was replaced in 2017 and has a 30-year life expectancy.
Tracks need resurfacing every five years and polyurethane replacement every 15 years. The Bulldawg Stadium track was last resurfaced in 2014.
“If you note in the facility plan that we reviewed at a workshop on October 20, it’s denoted in there to try to get two more years of field usage on Bulldawg Stadium and 2026 will be the 10th year of use. In 2027 it’ll be up for replacement,” Hawkins said. “The track at the stadium was last replaced in 2006, it was sprayed in 2014, and 2019. Generally, about two sprayings are all that you get out of resurfacing. The stadium at S.C. Lee was resurfaced in 2014 due to damage. There were entire pieces of the track missing, and the track was sprayed again in 2019.
“When you walk on a track and there’s no give to that track, there’s problems. That goes back to the usage.”
It was noted that because of the cracks in the track and separations on the curves, that debris, dirt, and even ants get under the track, and there are some places where foliage had even begun to grow. Also, due to the hardness of the track, runners are more prone to shin splints, coaches and student athletes have noted.
“My recommendation is to address Bulldawg Stadium with the track, that we stay on the plan that was presented in 2025. We know that probably one more season is as much as we’re going to get out of Bulldawg Stadium, and we need to align our funding to ensure that we’re maximizing our efforts to improve facilities and our maintenance cycles.”
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